Viciedo escaped Cuba 11 months ago. He hits missiles. And his eligibility as a free agent created a crisis among bidders, including the Yankees and the White Sox, who eventually snagged him for a reported $10 million.

"I left Cuba for baseball and the freedom to play in America," Viciedo said recently with Birmingham teammate Fernando Hernandez interpreting. "Just the chance to have freedom is the reason."

Last May, accompanied by his parents, Viciedo crossed the Gulf in a boat and landed in Mexico. The destination was important, in baseball terms, because by taking the longer route to freedom instead of heading straight to the U.S., he got to pick his own team through free agency.

Viciedo quickly landed an agent in Miami, attorney Jaime Torres, and a team after a tryout with the White Sox in the Dominican Republic.

The move made sense. Torres also represented two other Cuban-born players for the White Sox: pitcher Jose Contreras and shortstop Alexi Ramirez.

Why all the buzz?

At age 15, Viciedo was named the MVP of the World Junior Championships in Mexico. At 16, he played on the Cuban National Team and became the youngest Cuban All-Star in history. At 18, he played in the World Baseball Championship.

Scouts say he's the best player to come out of Cuba in a decade.

"He's got a ton of potential," said Nick Capra, the White Sox field operations director. "His swing is much better (since the season started). His bat is staying in the zone. He's not over-swinging."

Already, Viciedo has seen a difference in pitching. The quality in the Southern League is better than he's used to. After Wednesday's 1-for-5 performance, he is hitting .233 and in a 1-for-23 slump for the Barons, who begin a five-game homestand tonight at 7 at Regions Park against West Tennessee.

"The pitchers here have good stuff and they can throw (a good pitch) on any count," Viciedo said. "It's not the same thing you see in Cuba."

Viciedo made a serious bid to make the White Sox roster in spring training. But Josh Fields' experience proved to be the decisive factor.

Sending him to Birmingham, the White Sox told Viciedo he would play every day and get ample at-bats. He has but one complaint with his first taste of Dixie.

He'll learn soon enough about the heat and humidity of Old South summers and he'll adjust -- just as the White Sox expect him to do with Southern League pitching.

"He's got a lot of work ahead of him, in terms of makeup and mentality," Capra added. "It will come as he spends more time, getting more at-bats, spending more time with guys in the clubhouse who are older and wise. He'll learn from it.

"This is pretty high-caliber baseball. But he's got the tools."

Viciedo began playing in Cuba as a shortstop, but his size (6-foot-1, 240 pounds) makes him a better fit on a corner.

It's all about adjusting. And he's spent most of his life adjusting.

"It was hard at age 15 playing at that level," Viciedo said. Teammates "treated me like a 15-year-old kid, at first, but they eventually treated me as a grown man."

All he had to do was prove himself.

Now, with most of his family still back on the island, and his return denied by the Cuban government because of his voluntary exile, Dayan Viciedo will have to prove himself again on a bigger stage.

"This is where everyone wants to play baseball," he said. "This is America."